Key Event in Loop

[tjamzt]

Hi, I am very new (3 weeks) to java and i am wondering how I would get a key event inside while loop. I am trying to create a very simple version of pong with some basic code (creates a screen and draws a ball) that I modified. I tried putting the key event outside the while loop but it doesnt work and I have no idea how to move it inside. Thanks for any help.

[B]BallSimple.java[/B]

package Ball;

// import built in classes that you need to use
import java.awt.Color;
import java.awt.Graphics;
import javax.swing.JFrame;
import java.awt.event.*;
import java.util.Random;


//import java.util.Random;


public class BallSimple {
	
	
	Boolean running = true;

	//set x and y position
	int x_pos = 20;
	int y_pos = 20;
	int paddle_posx = 600;
	
	//set x and y velocity
	int velocityx = 3;
	int velocityy = 3;
	int velopaddle = 5;
	
	//set background and ball color
	Color BackCol = Color.cyan;
	Color BallCol = Color.red;
	
	//define paddle movement
	public void keyPressed(KeyEvent evt) { 
		int key = evt.getKeyCode();
		if (key == KeyEvent.VK_UP){
			System.out.println("Key Pressed");
		}
	}
	
	// Constructor - accepts arguments and builds object
	public BallSimple(JFrame window) {
		
		// get graphics object from JFrame so we can draw on it
		Graphics g = window.getGraphics();
	
	
		//while loop to run program
		while(running){
			
			g.setColor(BackCol);			
			g.fillRect(0, 0, window.getWidth(), window.getHeight());	// this is bad coding practice, use descriptively named variables
			g.setColor(BallCol);
			g.fillOval(x_pos, y_pos, 25, 25);
			g.setColor(Color.white);
			g.drawLine(paddle_posx, 200, paddle_posx, 280);
		
			//right side collision
			if (x_pos < 0){
				velocityx*=-1;
				ColorChangeBG();
				ColorChangeBall();
			}
			
			else if (x_pos + 12.5 > window.getWidth()){
				velocityx*=-1;
				ColorChangeBG();
				ColorChangeBall();
			}
			
			if (y_pos + 12.5 > window.getHeight() || y_pos - 12.5 < 0){
				velocityy*=-1;
				ColorChangeBG();
				ColorChangeBall();
			}
			
			//move ball
			x_pos += velocityx;
			y_pos += velocityy;
			
			
			// puts current application thread to sleep for specified number of milliseconds
			// try-catch block checks for error exception
			try {
				Thread.sleep(15);
			} catch (InterruptedException ex) {
				System.out.println("Could not sleep!");
			}
			
		} // end for loop
	} // end constructor
	
	private void ColorChangeBG(){
		Random rand = new Random(); 
		int RandomColor = rand.nextInt(5);
		switch (RandomColor) {
	    	case 0: 
	    		BackCol = Color.green;
	    		break;
	    	case 1: 
	    		BackCol = Color.black;
	    		break;
	    	case 2: 
	    		BackCol = Color.white;
	    		break;
	    	case 3: 
	    		BackCol = Color.blue;
	    		break;
	    	case 4: 
	    		BackCol = Color.white;
	    		break;
		}
		}
	
	private void ColorChangeBall(){
		Random rand = new Random(); 
		int RandomColor = rand.nextInt(5);
		switch (RandomColor) {
	    	case 0: 
	    		BallCol = Color.orange;
	    		break;
	    	case 1: 
	    		BallCol = Color.magenta;
	    		break;
	    	case 2: 
	    		BallCol = Color.yellow;
	    		break;
	    	case 3: 
	    		BackCol = Color.cyan;
	    		break;
	    	case 4: 
	    		BackCol = Color.DARK_GRAY;
	    		break;
		}
	}

} // end ball class

[B]Screen.java[/B]

package Ball;
import javax.swing.JFrame;

// new class screen is an extension of built in class JFrame and inherits
// its properties, like setSize, setLocation etc.
public class Screen extends JFrame {
	
	// constructor, where properties of object are set
	public Screen(String frameLabel) {
		setSize(640, 480);
        setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
        setVisible(true);
	}
	
	// main method to start object
	public static void main(String[] args){
		
		// create a screen and a simple ball animation on it
		Screen window = new Screen("new screen");
		new BallSimple(window);
	}
	
}

[Fubarable]

Please allow me the courtesy of being blunt -- your code is bad on many levels, almost too many to enumerate, but I'll try to point out a few.

• You're doing an infinite loop (while(true)) on the main Swing thread, the event dispatch thread which will put your GUI completely to sleep.
• You're calling Thread.sleep on the main Swing thread, the event dispatch thread which will put your GUI completely to sleep.
• Your getting your Graphics object from a component via its getGraphics() method and expecting that this will persist -- it won't, and you'll lose your drawing if a re-draw must occur.
• You're trying to use a key listener instead of key bindings
• Even if it were recommended to use a KeyListener here, you don't have a class that implements the interface.
• You're not painting within the paintComponent method of a JComponent or one of its children such as a JPanel
• You're not using a Swing Timer or a background thread for your animation loop

The key is to find and read the tutorials on Swing, Swing graphics, and Swing Timers first before trying to code this stuff. Much of it is not intuitive (at least not for me), and so assumptions must be thrown out before this type of code can work.

[tjamzt]

Like I said I am completely new to java and also to programming. Should I just rewrite the entire entire thing after reading the tutorials?

[Fubarable]

Like I said I am completely new to java and also to programming. Should I just rewrite the entire entire thing after reading the tutorials?

Yeah, you'll not want to use this code. Nothing wrong with being new, and once you get a handle on the tutorials, this will go much more smoothly.

[tjamzt]

Ok thank you.